The present invention generally relates to a whipping machine for making an emulsified or foam product and, more particularly, to a whipping machine of a type having a platform arrangement for the support of an article to be decorated with the emulsified or foam product produced thereby.
It is generally well known that whipped cream can be manufactured by forcing air and a liquid milk product, such as cream, simultaneously through a whipping means having such a large surface area of contact as to provide substantial agitation and intimate intermingling of the air and the cream. A conventional whipping machine performing this method comprises a refrigerator-cooled cream tank and an emulsifying or whipping barrel to which cream within the cream tank is supplied under pressure by means of a gear pump after it has been intermingled with air during the passage thereof through the gear pump. The emsulifying barrel comprises a hollow cylindrical shell having an emulsifying chamber in which an elongated deflector assembly generally complemental in shape to the shape of the emulsifying chamber is accommodated. The deflector assembly is so designed as to provide a substantially labyrinth passage through which a mixture of air and cream flows in a substantially zig-zag manner. It is during the flow through the labyrinth passage that the air and the cream are agitated and intermingled with each other to form an emulsion of air and cream which ultimately emerges outside of the machine in the form of a whipped cream from a dispensing spout coupled to the emulsifying barrel through a dispensing valve assembly.
The prior art whipped cream making machine is satisfactory in that whipped cream can be manufactured. However, it has been found that, since the extent to which the air and the cream are agitated and intermingled is insufficient, they tend to be insufficiently homogenized, the consequence of which is that not only does the resultant whipped cream occassionally bubble out from the dispensing spout during discharge thereof, but also the resultant whipped cream contains relatively large and irregular bubbles.
In view of the above, an improved version of whipped cream making machine has been proposed, the construction of which is disclosed in the U.S. Pat. application Ser. No. 836,716, filed on Sept. 26, 1977, and now U.S. Pat. No. 4,144,293, and assigned to the assignees of the present invention. According to the U.S. Pat. application, the improved whipped cream making machine comprises a housing structure including a container for accommodating a predetermined amount of liquid milk product, a gear pump, a first whipping barrel having a substantially labyrinth passage defined therein and extending over the entire length of the first whipping barrel. A mixture of air and liquid milk product is supplied from the container towards the fist whipping barrel under pressure by means of the gear pump, and is emulsified during its passage through the labyrinth passage in the first whipping barrel. A second whipping barrel is provided having therein means for stirring the emulsified mixture during the passage therethrough of said emulsified mixture. In addition a dispensing valve assembly is provided including a dispensing nozzle through which the emulsified mixture is discharged to the outside of the housing structure. Further a drive mechanism is provided for driving the gear pump and also for driving the stirring means in the second whipping barrel.
In the improved whipped cream making machine or whipping machine, the first and second whipping barrels are so coupled to each other that the emulsified mixture emerging from the first whipping barrel can be continuously supplied onto the second whipping barrel under pressure. The emulsified mixture so supplied onto the second whipping barrels flows through the interior of the second whipping barrel under pressure imparted by the gear pump and, at the same time, is stirring by the stirring means, driven by the drive mechanism, to provide a highly homogenized emulsion. The highly homogenized emulsion is then discharged to the outside from the dispensing nozzle in the form of a whipped cream.
Irrespective of the construction of the whipping machine, a whipped cream produced by the whipping machine is applied to a confectionary product, such as a cake or a pastry, to form a cream decoration. For applying the whipped cream to the confectionary product, for example, the cake, in a predetermined configuration or pattern to form a good-looking cream decoration on the cake, a manipulatable dispensing device has heretofore been employed, which is separate of the whipping machine. One type of manipulatable dispensing device comprises a substantially conical container made of flexible sheet material and having a dispensing nozzle or a pattern former positioned at the apex portion. The container is adapted to accommodate a definite amount of whipped cream discharged from the dispensing nozzle assembly of the whipping machine. The whipped cream within the container of the manipulatable dispensing device is, as the container is squeezed, discharged through the dispensing nozzle or pattern former. By manually moving the manipulatable dispensing device in a predetermined configuration or pattern above one surface of the cake to be decorated with the whipped cream, while the container of the manipulatable dispensing device is at the same time squeezed, the cream decoration can be formed.
As has been experienced, transfer of the whipped cream from the whipping machine to the container of the manipulatable dispensing device is inconvenient and time-consuming and often hampers decoration of a plurality of cakes with cream embelishments in a relatively short period of time. Moreover, as the residue of whipped cream within the container of the manipulatable dispensing device diminish, the amount of the whipped cream being discharged through the dispensing nozzle or pattern former tends to diminish unless the whipped cream is replenished and/or the pressure applied to the container so as to squeeze the latter is adequately adjusted. Therefore a good-looking cream decoration can hardly be formed on the cake without the skill required.